Türkiye’s biggest challenge ‘fight against terrorism:’ Report

ISTANBUL

The biggest challenge that the Turkish foreign policy face is the “fight against terrorism,” a survey conducted by a group of academics from Kadir Has University has revealed.

According to the results of the survey, in which 1,000 people above 18 years of age from 26 provinces participated, the question “What is the most important issue for Turkish foreign policy?” was answered by 14.7 percent as the “fight against terrorism.”

Over 44 percent gave the same answer in 2017. On the other hand, 11.9 percent of the participants answered this question as “relations with Israel” and 11.9 percent as “relations with the U.S.”

Nearly 35 percent find Türkiye’s policies in the Middle East as “successful,” while 25.5 considers them “unsuccessful.” The percentage of those who consider the policies “neither successful nor unsuccessful” is 39.9.

On a question of how the participants define Türkiye, 29.1 percent defined Türkiye as a European country, while 25.5 percent defined it as a Middle Eastern country.

Elaborating on Türkiye’s allies, 55.3 percent of the survey participants saw Azerbaijan as a friend of Türkiye, followed by the Turkish Cypriot (48.4 percent) and Georgia (38.3 percent).

While 54 percent of the participants last year considered the U.S. as a threat to Türkiye, this percentage decreased to 42.7 percent in 2022.

When questioned about the countries with which Türkiye should cooperate most in its foreign relations, 39.9 percent of the respondents answered “the U.S.,” 27.9 percent answered “Muslim countries,” and 26.2 percent said “the European countries.”

Some 60 percent of the survey participants indicated that “Türkiye’s membership with NATO should continue,” while the percentage of those who claimed that the NATO membership “contributes” to Türkiye increased from 45.6 percent in 2021 to 52 percent this year.

Around 51.6 percent of the participants considered the most crucial problem in Greek-Turkish relations as “sharing maritime jurisdiction in the Aegean Sea,” followed by “militarization of the Aegean islands,” with 51.4 percent.

Meanwhile, nearly 33 percent answered the question “What is the main reason for the Russia-Ukraine war?” as “Russia’s expansionist policies and its desire to control Ukraine,” while 22.7 percent concluded “Ukraine’s desire to join NATO” as the main reason.

“With this survey, we measure the understanding of people of the changes in the foreign policy of Türkiye,” Aydın stated, adding that it also enables to foresee the connection between the internal politics and Türkiye’s foreign policy.

The survey, which has been taking place every year since 2013, comprises questions related to Türkiye’s foreign policy, international relations and governmental policies.